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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What volume does Jakob select to read himself to sleep?

2. For how long does Ben search for Jakob's journals?

3. What does Ben's father forbid anyone mentioning?

4. Who visits Ben before he is five?

5. How does Jakob feel when he returns to Greece?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jakob think about as far as the Nazis' effort to dehumanize the Jews?

2. How does Jakob relate a theory by Einstein to the Holocaust?

3. What impact does being in Idhra have on Jakob?

4. How does Ben's father escape a Nazi camp?

5. How are Ben's parents described?

6. How does Ben find Jakob's study?

7. What does Ben recall about his father and mother when Ben is growing up?

8. Describe Jakob's visions of prisoners going to the gas chamber.

9. What does Michaela say about her parents and the pioneer museum?

10. What is Salonika and how is it related to Jakob and Michaela?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are a number of interesting questions raised by "Fugitive Pieces". Questions that Michaels most likely want readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Michaels' agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Michaels' probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

4. Research the life of Michaels and see if/where her life may have influenced her writing.

Essay Topic 2

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all novels. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Athos and Jakob. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Be specific and give examples.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Ben and Jakob. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

3. Compare/contrast the characters of Michaela and Naomi. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

4. Thoroughly analyze how three of the secondary characters in Fugitive Pieces help drive the plot and what their contribution is to the storyline. Are any of the secondary characters unnecessary? Indispensable? Which of the secondary characters are likable? Which are either unlikable or even despicable? Be specific and give examples.

Essay Topic 3

Jakob emphasizes that he does not see the horrors that visit European Jewry during World War II while he is living in Greece. He endures hardships on Zakynthos and lives in constant fear of the door being bashed in, as had happened in his home in Poland. All of Zakynthos's Jews are saved from the Nazis through the courage of the Christian mayor and archbishop. By comparison, most of the Jews on nearby Corfu perish by drowning or in concentration camps.

1. Discuss what affect the constant fear with which Jakob lives would have on a young boy. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

2. Discuss reasons you think some people like the mayor and Bishop tried to help the Jewish people and others did not. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

3. Discuss, in depth, the concept of courage as it relates to the mayor and the archbishop. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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